Temari is abducted days before her longawaited wedding. Shikamaru leads a team comprising Chouji, Gaara, Hinata and Kankurou. Temari is ready to kick her abductor's ass. When will Shikamaru and Temari get married?

"You dropped them in when you bent
over to look at the pit! How stupid can you get?"

"Woman, I was trying to see if you
were there!"

"Don't pin this... this idiocy on me,
Nara Shikamaru! How could you just leave it unsecured in your
pocket?"

They stood nose to nose, glaring
daggers at each other.

"Um," I raised a finger weakly, "if
it's not too much trouble... could we please... get me to a medic
before I pass out again?"

Gaara was at my side in a second, the
sand platform a gentle bed. I let my head fall back, silently
thanking the tendency for Gaara's sand to soak up blood – with my
blood loss the poisons had not had time to diffuse into my cells
before much of it was absorbed by the quartz grains my brother
carried.

It all made sense. Sort of.

My head swam before I drifted into
sleep.

------------------------

------------Shikamaru------------

------------------------

I
leaned on Chouji as we made our slow way out of the labyrinth of
caves. Gaara had gone on ahead; Kankuro's injury was more serious
than he'd care to share with us, but Hinata knew that look and had
insisted on Gaara leaving us behind.

Temari
was walking with Hinata's help. She was looking at me, but the second
she saw me looking at her looking at me she twisted her head away.

I
smirked.

Chouji
nudged my ribs. "Did you really lose the rings?" he asked under
his breath.

"I
wouldn't say that," Chouji whispered as he stole a glance at Temari
and Hinata. "She looks ready to kill."

------------------------

------------Temari------------

------------------------

"I'm gonna kill him," I said. I was
still limping; the anesthesia was not wearing off fast enough.

Hinata tried to calm me down. "We can
always get another set of rings, Temari. Better ones-"

"Those were the rings promised us by
Tetsuo! And you know how picky he is about making jewelry!" I
protested. "That Nara idiot lost them because they slipped out of
his pocket! Tell me what Tetsuo would say."

"Upsetting? If I were any more upset
I'd be... I'd have married Shikio!" I fumed. Then I thought about
it. "No, I'm not that upset yet. But still."

"Maybe you'll like to speak with
Shikamaru later after you've calmed down a bit?"

I harumphed and looked at the Nara's
spiky hair bobbing ahead. He was still not ready to move about; the
injuries he sustained were mostly internal ones, what with rocks
crashing into his torso and chakra overuse; and a number of scrapes,
burns, cuts and bruises from the traps he'd refused to detail to me.

When he stumbled I almost darted
forward but remembered I was currently angry with him, and I looked
at my own feet.

Stupid, stupid Nara.

------------------------

------------Shikamaru------------

------------------------

When we finally made it out to the
clear air I wanted to just fall down and sleep. But since we were
seventy feet from the ground I desisted from that particular impulse.

"I never said that. I meant that he
caught a stray bolt of your attractiveness – and didn't know how to
deal with it properly."

She fell silent. I closed my eyes, glad
that she was here beside me again.

------------------------

------------Temari------------

------------------------

I listened to his even breathing.

I could smell the dinner Chouji was
cooking; I could hear their soft chatter; I could see the play of
firelight and shadows over us.

But I listened to his even breathing.

"Nara," I said quietly. Perhaps
he'd fallen asleep...

"Hmm?" He blinked. "What is it?"

I tilted my head to press my lips to
his chin. "Will you, Nara Shikamaru, take me to be your wife, to
have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for richer and for
poorer, till death do we part?"

"I do. Even if it's too troublesome."
He turned his head slightly so he could gaze sleepily into my eyes.
"Will you, Sabaku no Temari, take me to be your husband, to obey
and to honor, in sickness and in health, for richer and for poorer,
till death do we part?"

I wrinkled my nose. "I have to obey?"

"Mm-hmm. Most of the time anyway."

"Well, in that case..." I kissed
his chin again, "I do. As much as you do."

He bent to kiss my lips. "I do. With
all my heart."

"With all my heart, then, too."

------------------------

------------Chouji------------

------------------------

I sat on the rock with a bowl. Hinata
sat beside me, her cheeks pink with embarrassment and happiness.

"Happy beginning, I hope." With a
sigh I chewed on a carrot chunk. Kankuro would be mad he had to miss
this, I chuckled inwardly. But it was worth all the trouble to see my
best friend finally settling down with a – well, he would call her
troublesome – woman who could keep up with him mentally and
physically, and occasionally trounce him.